I went through my photo drawer the other day and was happy to find some older photos and decided they needed some paper love asap!
I remember taking that photo above from the 'that time' layout of my kids during a snack break last summer. It's still one of my favourite non posed shots of them. When I see the photo I can see their personalities ... the best big sister around assisting her little brother getting the last bit of yoghurt and him embracing the attention.

This layout is as simple as they come.
My own lettering for the title.
The numbers are the rub ons from Heidi Swapp.
And then one of my favourite combos : Black and white .. not just the photo but the paper as well.
Super simple.

Another old photo from last summer combined with a little black, a little white and a little red.
I mentioned in this post about spending less money on paper these days but couldn't resist some goods from Studio Calico's July project life kit and these layouts continue to use bits and pieces from that.

I guess I was on a 'happy' kick with these layouts because I titled the one above 'Happy Is'.

I mean the words are on the patterned paper and it kind of resonated with my smile in the photo and the way I feel when I look at my goofy girl trying to make a funny face.

I purchased zero of the large 12x12 patterned paper in my latest splurge. The 6x6 paper pad was the only patterned paper I had to play with and that is where that cloud paper is from.
It's super cute as is but I had to a little extra to it and a little gold pen and paint added the extra bit of 'happy' for me.

It's no secret I have loved playing with paper and photos for a while but lately I just haven't been inspired to make a traditional layouts. I have been concentrating on the simplicity that is Project Life. My number one goal is to get my photos off my phone and computer and into an album .. yes I do add small embellishments here or there just because but my desire to make layouts like this comes and goes. I haven't even had the desire to spend the money I used to on scrapbooking kits which definitely is not a bad thing! Of course I log on the night the kits are revealed and just oooh and aaaah at the prettiness every month but somehow my will has been strong enough not to buy.

Well lately ... the urge to create has hit and I got just a few things from Studio Calico's July Kit. Well their Project Life to be exact. No extra patterned paper, no extra embellishments. I have found my style. Simple with a little artistic flair. This is very much needed with two kids who demand my attention and therefore time is very limited.

I love using the project life cards on my layouts! This little cloud one in the layout above was the starting point for this layout where I used a pink/grey/white and gold colour palette.

That awesome basic grey leaf paper above? That is from last autumn and it's been staring at me since then to use it! I'm happy to say I did before this Autumn came and went. Ha!
That tag came from a item of clothing I purchased at Anthropologie (hooray for gift cards).

Another layout with a stamp from Studio Calico that I have had for some time now. I don't even recall what month I purchased it. Amazing stamp and paper from my stash and some of my favourite photos of my kids .... Layout complete!

Happiness is some favourite summer intax pics and little brush script with a cool quote all about summer! Full Stop. Yes I did change the quote a tad to say 'Here's to the days' instead of 'Here's to the nights. I love it all the same.

I hope this creative energy stays around for a little while longer. It's been fun ... and dandy!

With my kids having cousins who live in Australia I love to encourage them to write letters and hope they continue to love it as much I do. My girl asks almost every day when she sees me collect the mail if there is something for her ... and those days I can give her a 'yes there is' answer she is a happy happy girl!

We made these hello cards the other day and now that the recipients have received them I wanted to share them here. A little scary or creepy? Maybe. A lot of fun? Absolutely! I hear the recipients loved them as much as my kids loved making them.
I love these because they are personalised since I used an actual photo of my kids and gave them a little extra personality using some bright and super fun googly eyes I picked up at the craft store.
The kids went to town choosing their own eyes and couldn't stop laughing at themselves as they glued them down.

I made these in photoshop by designing a 6 Inches Wide x 8 Inches Long template. That way when I printed the finished document and folded it in half I would have a 6"x 4" Card.
I changed the photo to black and white on purpose .. so that the bright googly eyes would stand out.
Two super quick speech bubbles and hand written message and these were on their way to some happy cousins.

Of course this would be just as easy to make by printing a photo and simply glueing the photo on top
of the folded card.

Last week I introduced my kids to my favourite way of eating ice cream.
You need three ingredients to make this delicious and sweet summery goodness:

1. Vanilla Ice cream
2. A waffle cone and ...
3. A drizzle of HONEY!

Simple and sweet but that extra hit of sweetness makes is so so good! Of course it's absolutely no revolutionary way of eating ice cream but it's kind of too good not to share.
My kids are fans but then again what sweet loving boy or girl wouldn't love the sticky and creamy goodness dripping down their hands?

She has a favourite spot in the house. It's the step leading out to the backyard.
It's where she sits to say hi and pat the dog.
It's where she sits to eat her snacks on a nice day. It's where she sits to eat her popscicles on a REALLY nice day.
It's where she sits to do a little bird watching.
It's where she chooses to do her favourite activity which varies each week of course. It could be playing with her little toys and putting them in their 'beds' or learning to sew or painting her nails and any willing member of the family's nails also.
It's where she sits and yells to me to come and see the flower/bug/leaf she just found.
It's where she sits and waits for me to come and help her on the monkey bars on our playground.
It's where her little brother likes to join her every once in a while when he is not running laps in the backyard.

It's where she sits to contemplate life and wonder what this thing called 'kindergarten' that everyone says she will go to next year is all about and whether she will make new friends and what her new teacher will be like. That is for a different post though. :)

It's where she likes to sit in the afternoons when the mid afternoon sun is still bright enough to create shadows from the blinds and pergola covering our patio area outside.

It's her favourite spot and I have loved to capture these little moments of her over the last few months.

Aaaah yes we have some tomatoes happily ripening, there are baby birds finding their wings and leaving their nests and other birds looking for discrete places to build their nest. Trust me .. we did a lot of bird watching Sunday morning! It's pretty much the
unofficial start to the summer season around here and well this weekend
very much felt like it! Warm weather and lots of time playing with/in
the water even if it's our teeny tiny inflatable pool ... but when this face smiles this big after spending some time in his tiny pool it's all that matters to me!

He walked outside on Sunday, looked up at the sky and exclaimed "Is sunny. I need sunbock (sunblock).
He grabbed the suncreen face stick and proceeded to apply it to his face .. he let me help him spread it around those squishable cheeks of his.
A minute later he demanded to "put on my simsuit (swimsuit). He pretty much put the official 'start of summer stamp' in my book. Oh my goodness that tiny voice of his expanding every single day with new vocabulary. It's crazy to think how much he has changed since last summer! Crazy!

I'm very much looking forward to a great summer .. this very vocal and active little boy of mine needs to be kept busy and I'm still figuring out our official must do's but this great printable from this creative lady got me motivated to start thinking and here's what I have so far. I will let my five year old have her say on what she wants to do and add to it this week I'm thinking.

I'm very much looking forward to a great summer .. this very vocal
and active little boy of mine loves being outside so I forsee lots of
time enjoying our own backyard and we will definitely squeeze in a quite
a few trips to the beach. This great summer list printable from this creative lady
got me motivated to start thinking about other summer must do's and
here's what I have so far. I let my five year old have her say on what
she wants to do. I hand wrote those in.
Our conversation went a little like this:

Me: "Do you have anything you really want to do or make this summer"?
Her: "Yes .. I want to make a butterfly".
Me: " Ummm Ok. What would you like to make it out of"?
Her: " How about clay"?.

And so with a little oven bake clay we have one item ticked/checked of our list.
She is so awesome!

Hope your summer brings lots of happy times and amazing memories are made!

Easter is indeed right around the corner and I love a good .. and easy craft to do with the kids as much as any other mum.
I found an easter craft on pinterest that I knew would fit the easy category with this cute Bunny Family made out of cardboard rolls. We of course had to accesorize our family with gold ears and washi tape outfits. I love how they turned out!

Here is the list of what you need:

Two other things you need : A black marker pen and scotch tape.

And the Steps to make them are pretty quick and easy .. my almost five year old girl was an awesome helper with these guys!
1. Collect your toilet paper/paper towel rolls.
2. Cut any to the size you need to complete your family
3. Paint the rolls with your white paint
4. Allow paint to dry .. maybe 30 minutes?
5. Make 'outfits' by rolling your washi tape around a couple of times.
6. With the marker pens give your bunnies some happy or funny faces.
7. Fold and attach your pipe cleaners in the shape of ears and attach to the roll with some tape and you have an adorable bunny family to play with or display.

At the very last minute my girl decided our bunnies needed some tails ... DUH! Why didn't I think of that? And so with some cotton balls and glue we had four cotton tail bunnies hopping down the bunny trail. :))

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GREETINGS

I'm Jenny. I'm Originally from Brisbane Australia but now calling California home with my American husband and our two kids. I write about adventures, life, documenting that life, pretty paper, snail mail and things that inspire.